On February 28th, NIH announced the first “NIH mHealth 2011 Summer Institute” will be held in San Diego on June 20-24, 2011. The Institute will bring together leaders in mobile health technologies, behavioral science researchers, federal health officials, and members of the medical community, to provide early career investigators information on mHealth research. The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) part of NIH, has partnered with Qualcomm, a developer of wireless technologies to cosponsor the course.
Through the use of mobile applications and technology, mHealth solutions hold the promise to reduce costs and errors, remove geographical and economic disparities, and to personalize health care. These technologies have helped to bring about a convergence of science, medicine, engineering, and communications technologies to improve the quality of healthcare while striving to reduce costs and inefficiencies. However, challenges in mHealth exist since much of the work being done arises from single disciplines without integrating the behavioral social sciences and the clinical research fields.
The Summer Institute will cover the current state of the science in mobile technology and engineering, behavior change theory and clinical applications, and will highlight the intersection of these areas for health-related research. Interdisciplinary teams of participants will develop potential mHealth research projects.
To be eligible, candidates must have a doctoral level degree and an interest in the multidisciplinary science of mobile and wireless technology.
Go to http://obssr.od.nih.gov/training_and_education/mhealth/index.aspx for more information or email Ann C. Benner, at annb@nih.gov or call (301) 594-4574.
